Promoting public health and preventing ill-health

The key changes in the updated standards of proficiency can be grouped into a number of themes, of which this is one. The changes in the updated standards extend beyond these themes. To see them all, download the
full standards for your profession >

Why?

Registrants are part of a larger healthcare system and play an important role in promoting good health in their professions.

Specific standards

Registrants must:

• 15.1: understand the role of their profession in health promotion, health education and preventing ill-health
• 15.2: understand how social, economic and environmental factors (wider determinants of health) can influence a person’s health and well-being
• 15.3: empower and enable individuals (including service users and colleagues) to play a part in managing their own health
• 15.4: engage in occupational health, including being aware of immunisation requirements
  
  

Expectations of registrants:

• When providing care, registrants are expected to broadly understand the role they can play in preventing ill-health
• This may involve advice, referrals or other interventions which may not be directly connected to the reason the service user sought care
• When thinking about the prevention of ill-health, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for all their service users
• Many registrants already take this approach and so these new standards may not have a significant impact on them
• Registrants may find it helpful to include observations about public health and the prevention of ill-health in their notes and reflections

Registrants should use their professional judgement when applying these standards. How you meet the standards will depend on your role, your workplace and your individual scope of practice.

What registrants need to do

Registrants need to ensure that they meet the updated standards as far as they relate to their scope of practice. We recommend dedicating some continuing professional development (CPD) time to making sure that any gaps between the standards and your current practice are filled. Our gap analysis tool can be a good starting point for this.

Evidence of these activities does not need to be submitted to the HCPC outside of a normal CPD audit. If you are selected for CPD audit, we’ll contact you at the beginning of your renewal window.